Market Buzz: Euro floors rally, waiting on Spain unemployment

Russian equities tumbled and will look to gain back ground on today’s floors. The MICEX closed down 0.04 percent at 1369.36 along with seven other key indices, but the dollar-based RTS finished up at 9523.37 points.

Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas extractor, and Russia’s
major gas company, fell 1.16 percent by market close on dipping
crude prices.

WTI crude oil is down 0.31 percent at $105.06 per barrel, the
biggest loss in more than a month, as US output increased to a 22
year high. Brent is down 0.26 percent at $106.91 per barrel, and
could possibly slip below WTI again, an anomaly that happened on
July 19, and before that not since August 2010.

The ruble depreciated 0.2 percent versus the dollar to 32.38 by
6pm in Moscow.

Lower crude prices weakened the ruble against the dollar, which
has slipped further, trading at 32.4752, a slight depreciation
since Tuesday, and large disparity from last week’s 1.0 percent
gain.

At the close of US trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
slipped 0.26 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.38 percent, while
the NASDAQ managed to ease up 0.01 percent.

The US will publish government data on durable goods orders,
which will signal production strength or weakness to investors on
Thursday.

European floors are rallying on positive manufacturing data released Wednesday, a
light at the end of the tunnel from the nearly two-year
recession. The Euro Stoxx 50 climbed 1.08 percent to 2,752.25,
Germany’s DAX continues its second day of ascent, and has added
0.78 percent to 8,379.11, a monthly high. France’s CAC
jumped 1.01 percent to 3,962.75 and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.35
percent to 6,620.43.

Spain will release official unemployment data, and the UK will
publish data on second quarter domestic product on Thursday.

South Korea reported its gross domestic product grew at an annual
rate of 2.3 percent, beating most analysts’ forecasts of 2.0
percent growth. The surge is the biggest in two years.

Australia’s ASX 200 continues its strong July session, and is up
0.01 percent at 5,035.60. The Aussie hit a 4.5-year low
against the New Zealand dollar after the latter’s Reserve Bank
indicated it is moving towards removing monetary easing, holding
the interest rate at 2.5 percent.